Tag Archives: Christian Mistress

Belting atop towering riffs and intentional strong writing, Christian Mistresschanteuse Christine Davis confesses that she’s “ready to fight,” on “Stronger Than Blood,” the second track off Christian Mistress’ new album, To Your Death. Judging by Davis’ powerful, indoctrinating wail, it’s a proclamation I doubt anyone who hears the new material would dare refute.

Since 2004, the Portland-based power Rock troupe Christian Mistress has championed un-ironic Rock and Roll—no slick or sticky packaging here, instead the band offers straight-up and true Heavy Metal ethos. At the helm of this searing sonic ship is Christine Davis, who with powerful conviction, brings a raspy and cool, raw and confrontational approach to the music.

Christian Mistress, Photo Credit: Greg Mason

“We gave [To Your Death] enough time to develop,” Davis said. “We’ve always been aware we have magic as musicians when working together, and on To Your Death, we were able to harness that.” Davis and I stood outside a club in Denver between an alley and awning; Christian Mistress had just come off a 12-hour drive from the last-night show in St. Louis, and were appropriately road-weary, yet looking spry.

“On To Your Death, we were able to create a record that pulled from influences we hadn’t had a chance to pull from yet, as well as a deeper understanding of each other as musicians.”

Christian Mistress, Photo Credit: Greg Mason

When speaking with Davis, one is privy to a self-assurance that cuts through bullshit and small talk; we skirted pointless prattle and instead purposefully dove into the details of the album.

“[We, Christian Mistress, were able to] really appreciate where each of us was coming from. [Moreover], we really tried to pay more attention to space. The lyrical content on To Your Death is about freedom—freedom of the soul—we wanted to keep the musical themes open as well, so there’s some space around it.”

Since forming in 2004 in Olympia, WA, Christian Mistress has released three studio albums and a demo, all of which reintroduced to Heavy Metal its raw roots. After the band’s 2012 album, Possession, Christian Mistress went on to write the tunes heard on their new third full-length studio release, To Your Death. The process found the band enduring a brief break and a line-up change, which helped refocus the song-writing efforts, reigniting Christian Mistress’ song-writing prowess. The result is heard on the album’s eight tracks, which offer an uncomplicated sophistication that still feels edgy, as well as an assertiveness that makes Christian Mistress’ brand of Heavy Metal heavy.

“We’re not a Death Metal band, [but] we’re also not a plain Rock and Roll band,” Davis said. “This kind of music is true Heavy Metal, with a lot of punk influence, which is what New Wave of British Heavy Metal is—[it was started] by players who were super Punk and raw, but were better musicians than just the three-chord harmony players (which is also great—I mean, I love The Ramones).

But playing this style of music is great because it gives us the space to do what we want and not get held back—if we had just said we were a Rock and Roll band, that’s great, but then where do screaming guitar harmonies fit? For me, I’ve never been in a band where we do just one thing, and with what [Christian Mistress does], we can always have the freedom to go beyond that.”

You fronted a Thrash Metal band called Buried Blood a little while back—how does fronting Christian Mistress, a traditional Heavy Metal band, differ for you in terms of performance and writing lyrics?

Christine Davis of Christian Mistress, Photo Credit: Greg Mason

“Super interesting question: I think my approach to writing lyrics is exactly the same—I sit in the park and think about poetry I’ve been mulling over and attach it to the riffs that [Christian Mistress guitarist] Oscar [Scarbel] writes, and I think the main reason this music is successful is because of the riffs Oscar writes. He and I working together is a great juxtaposition, as our approaches are so different, and it just works.”

“In [Buried Blood], I would listen to the music and write something around it. I think in the future [with Christian Mistress], however, I’d like to do more songs where we start with vocal harmonies, and then bring in other instruments.”

With To Your Death coming out soon (September 18th, 2015), and this mini tour underway, what is Christian Mistress most excited about?

“Right now, a very pure answer is to say that it’s fun to be on tour right when the record is coming out—Relapse Records did an amazing job with our artwork.

It’s been really fun to be actively on the same path as the promotional aspects of the record. Plus, we get to head to Europe next month.

We’ve come a long way from where we started, which was in a drunken, moldy basement in Olympia, and having no idea anyone would ever care or listen to our music, but it’s a sound we cared about, and to this day, one we still care about.”

By adding their own modern twist to the exalted genre of New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Christian Mistresshas started to make a name for themselves. Interestingly they are from Washington State. Where many bands tend to sound as though they are doing covers when tackling the genre, Christian Mistress actually pull it off. The band’s latest release, To Your Death is their first for Relapse Records.

Album opener ‘Neon’ starts everything off very strong. It is a classic headbanger that channels late 70s and early 80s bands such as Judas Priest and Paul Di’Anno era Iron Maiden. This is due in equal parts to Christine Davis’s vocals and the work of guitarists’ Oscar Scarbel and Tim Diedrich. Scarbel and Dietrich seamlessly reproduce the twin guitar sound the genre is famous for. Davis’s style appears to be modeled on other famous female singers of that era such as Doro Pesch. Hearing a collaboration between the two is something to remain hopeful for. These traits remain throughout the album with some variation.

One song that best nails the mood of the album is ‘No Place’. It is a tune that any audience can rock out to and chant along with. Likewise, ‘Ultimate Freedom’ is an empowering anthem that would not have been out of place during the heyday of NWOBHM. Although the songs conjure up memories of when metal was king, they also carry a promise to revive the genre. The album comes to an end with the killer guitar riffage of ‘III’; one cannot help but start the whole thing over again.

Olympia, WA metallers Christian Mistress will be hitting the road across North America in support of their upcoming third full length release To Your Death, out this fall via Relapse Records, with Sabbath Assembly and a September run with High Spirits and Savage Master. The new album was recorded at Louder Studios with Tim Green (Melvins, Earthless, Sleater Kinney) in April. Watch the music video for “Pentagram and Crucifix” below.

There’s plenty of hype surrounding UK / Belgian quartet Death Penalty, the new outfit of former Cathedral multi-instrumentalist Gaz Jennings, and it’s not too hard to see why. While female fronted units with hippo-felling riffs and pounding drums are de rigeur at present, here, the sound is less about the occult and more about heavy blues rock, those rhythms fair flashing along with a seductive groove and some wild, intricate lead play decorating Sign of Times (Rise Above), the title track of this seven-inch release. There are interesting tones and melodies here, not least from the voice of Michelle Nocon, but despite the undoubted power in her voice it’s only on the flip-side ‘Seven Flames’ where she really lets rip and gives us more than two octaves, which is somewhat disappointing especially if compared against other female performances of 2014.

It’s an energetic sound but also a touch dated, coming across as a pub-standard Christian Mistress in parts. This is obviously a taster for the self-titled debut album and as such it’s a decent listen, but one would hope the full-length has more invention to fulfil the promise.

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